________________
EFF Calls for
Boycott of "HackSDMI Challenge"
________________
EFF
Calls for Boycott of "HackSDMI Challenge"
Don't
Undermine Your Own Fair Use Rights!
Electronic
Frontier Foundation ALERT -- Sep. 18, 2000
Please redistribute to relevant forums, no later than Nov. 1,
2000.
Introduction
The
Secure Digital Music Initiative (SDMI), an entertainment
industry
trade association led by the Recording Industry Association of
America (RIAA), has announced a "contest" in their
"Open Letter to
the Digital Community" (at http://www.sdmi.org/pr/OL_Sept_6_2000.htm
), where they challenge hackers to test the security of their
music
encryption program. The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF)
urges
the Internet community to boycott this contest and refrain from
helping the recording industry perfect a way to undermine our
fair
use rights.
EFF
is the first to acknowledge that hacking at encryption code is
vital to ensuring security in digital architecture. However, we
question the motives of SDMI, which has indicated an interest in
severely limiting your ability to listen to digital recordings
in your
favorite format and in undermining all attempts at
non-SDMI-compliant music distribution models.
EFF
therefore urges anyone with the technical expertise to compete
for the $10,000 prize to refrain from doing so and to tell SDMI
- and
your friends, relatives and colleagues that you are
participating in
this boycott and why.
EFF
also invites musicians and listeners to participate in a
"contest" to Set Digital Music Free (SDMF), where the
prize is your
freedom to distribute your music any way you choose. The SDMF
challenge, part of EFF's Campaign for Audiovisual Free
Expresssion
(CAFE), is aimed at empowering musicians and listeners through
alternative business models with open architectures in
cyberspace.
Detailed
explanations of SDMF and CAFE are available at
http://www.eff.org/cafe
.
SDMI's
Motivations
SDMI
has proposed a new standard that they are heavily pushing on
equipment and software manufacturers. The Digital Music Access
Technology, or DMAT, format is intended to put an
encryption-based
shell around digital audio content that prevents unauthorized
copying
or playback. Examples of "unauthorized" uses are
likely to include
your attempts to: play music files on any player that does not
honor
DMAT; make backups of your music files; excerpt portions of
music
files in high quality audio; or have multiple copies of music
files,
such as having one for a portable player and one in your car.
Furthermore, there has been some speculation that SDMI will
arm-twist
equipment makers into either disallowing playback of non-DMAT
music
or converting it permanently to DMAT format, regardless of the
intent
of the artist that produced and released it. Finally, copyright
is only
intended to cover works for a limited time, after which they are
supposed to become part of the public domain. This transition
will no
longer be allowed to take place with technology such as DMAT,
where a
song that is branded with the industry's watermark will be
copy-protected eternally.
Civil
Liberties Concerns
DMAT
is designed to undermine fair use and related rights, such as:
the ability to play content on whatever equipment the purchaser
desires; the right to "time shift" and "space
shift" (e.g., record
for playback at a later time or in a different format); the
right to
make backup copies of purchased content; the right to actually
own
instead of simply "license" purchased content (the
"First Sale"
doctrine); the right of artists to distribute content digitally
without signing ownership of their works over to a major record
label; the rights of journalists and educators to re-use content
excerpts without having to pay licensing fees; and many more.
SDMI's
neglect to address these fair use issues displays a shocking and
callous attitude towards the public domain rights of consumers
and
artists in the digital world.
Most
at risk by the SDMI proposal are independent artists and the
consumers who appreciate their work. Increasing numbers of
artists
are recognizing the awesome potential of the Internet to
directly
connect with their listeners. Technological advances and
alternative
distribution methods should allow more musicians to enter the
market
at a lower cost to consumers. This change is not welcomed by the
big
record labels, however, which have depended on musicians only
being
able to reach potential listeners through the exclusive
distribution
power of the recording industry. SDMI's DMAT is the industry's
attempt to keep its stranglehold on music distribution.
SDMI
wants DMAT to be uncrackable so that all who dare to exercise
their rights will be cryptographicly prevented from doing so.
The
RIAA is mischaracterizing all "unauthorized" access or
duplication -
no matter how well protected by fair use and other rights - to
be
copyright piracy. And now SDMI is asking the very hackers they
malign
in the press and in court as criminal copyright pirates and
thieves
to help SDMI make DMAT unbreakable!
EFF
has attempted dialog with SDMI and even asked to be part of SDMI
in an attempt to improve it from a public interest perspective.
SDMI
consistently rejected our applications and has completely
ignored all
of the fair use, constitutional, anti-trust and social
responsibility
concerns we have raised with DMAT. Enough is finally enough.
Don't
Do Their Dirty Work!
EFF
urges all hackers, reverse engineers, digital audio experts,
cryptographers and others targeted by SDMI's Trojan horse
invitation to
refrain from giving them free consulting on how to hack away at
your rights. Please:
* Refrain from participating in the "HackSDMI"
backstab.
*
Publicly say you are doing so (in your e-mail signature file, on
hacking, engineering and other relevant mailing lists, on your
own web page, and wherever else you deem appropriate).
*
Write to SDMI and tell them that you refuse to help them
undermine
your own rights, and why.
*
Urge colleagues to do likewise.
*
Inform and encourage musicians to participate in the SDMF
challenge through CAFE.
*
Join EFF!
If
you are not a tech expert but are a user of digital music
technology, you too can play a role:
*
Write to SDMI and to your favorite MP3 equipment/software
vendor(s) and tell them that you want to be able to choose how
you listen to your music. Express your concerns with
distribution
systems that lock you into a single technology or music player.
Tell them that you do not appreciate being considered a thief by
default.
*
Pass this alert around to your friends. (Please only recirculate
to appropriate forums if sending to mailing lists, etc.)
*
Write to your favorite artists (e.g., via their record labels) and
ask them to take a public stand.
*
Join EFF!
If
you are an independent artist, you can:
*
Participate in CAFE and the SDMF initiative
( http://www.eff.org/cafe
)
*
Inform and encourage other artists to participate in CAFE and
SDMF.
*
Release your material in MP3 and other open formats.
*
Send your music to outlets that are dedicated to giving exposure
to artists using
open formats such as Radio EFF
( http://www.eff.org/radioeff/
)
*
Tell SDMI you oppose their attempt to force manufacturers to
disable support for
non-DMAT music in an attempt to herd new
artists toward the RIAA oligopoly.
*
Join EFF!
If
you are a "signed" artist, you can really help:
*
Tell SDMI you do not agree that protecting music industry and
artists' revenues is dependent on stripping everyone of their
rights;
*
Tell your label you do not support SDMI or DMAT.
*
Tell your fans (live, on your web site, in lyrics, etc.) that
you do
not believe they are all a bunch of pirates, and that they
should write to the labels and protest being treated like they
are all thieves by default.
*
Contact us about becoming more involved in speaking out against
the direction the industry is pushing digital content.
*
Join EFF!
For
More Information
EFF's
Campaign for Audiovisual Free Expression (CAFE) http://www.eff.org/cafe
The
"HackSMDI" site: http://www.hacksdmi.org
the
SDMI homepage: http://ww.sdmi.org
